Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Map Lamp

"Map Lamp How To" from Chez Larsson found via One Pretty Thing.

I love this--matches my ideal modern, but sophisticated decorating style. I even love the white initials sitting next to it. Maybe for our stair nook??

"Ok, to make a map lamp this is what you need: A lamp shade. For this small one I used a white lamp shade I had already. The one in Wille's room used to be covered in striped fabric but I tore that off and removed the glue residue with glue remover. Stinky! You'll want something similar to a cutting board, permanent spray adhesive, an exacto knife an of course your map of choice. Martin chose Stockholm for this one while the one in Wille's room is Barcelona.

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This lamp shade is great because it has a ribbon edge and that will help you get a neat finish. The one in Wille's room didn't have that so there I had to be extra careful to cut it straight and glue it on straight too. Measure between the edges...

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...and cut a long strip that covers the shade and then some. For Wille's I had to paste two together overlapping slightly. Then measure by holding the map strip around the map, make a mark and cut.

Spray permanent spray adhesive onto the back of the map (I do this outdoors) and affix to the shade smoothing out any air bubbles with hands.

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Here's what the shade looks like unlit...

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...and here lit. If you don't want the double map effect that you're going to get because bought tourist and road maps almost always have print on both sides you can probably color copy the map onto white paper first and glue that to the shade instead. I kind of like this effect tough."

1 comment:

Sarah said...

fun! this would be great in a boys room!
Sarah
Vintage Lily
www.vintagelily.typepad.com